Has anyone been thinking about building an electric car (home-made) for themselvees any time soon? Options

[shawnbem]

I just read of how a man in Los Angelese has converted an old Porsche 914 to an electric car with a 60 mile range for $18,000 (24 lead acid batteries)
I thought to myself that's a good idea. Probably better to buy an electric scooter though, if you don't need to take the freeway often as is the case in L.A.

I'm now doing some investigation into that idea and I hope to begin building my own electic car also. Does anyone else have similar plans?

I have heard about how its actually better to convet old small pickup trucks (Ford/Toyota/GM) to electric pickups because the box can hold more batteries and the springs are easily upgraded to hold the extra tonnage. Lead acid batts are heavy but they're cheap, so that's why Lithium Ions are shunned for now.

[Rob-O]

If I were doing an electric conversion, I would use something like this....

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/images.thecarconnection.com-1143-1417973477.1.jpg) These generate 100HP each, and you don't need the gearbox or halfshafts or any of the other associated stuff.

It would need some controls to make the electric braking work, but it would be a really good solution. Cut the floor out of the rear trunk, and fill the space for the engine and trans with batteries. Use the space for the gas tank for more, and you still have the front trunk for more if you like, or for cargo.

And you could do it as all wheel drive by converting the front struts to use them too.



Or the other alternative is to use the wheel motors, and put a APU (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) from a small airliner in the engine compartment. It runs at a steady speed all the time so it is really fuel efficient. <sarcasm>Oh.. wait you can't turbine a 914!</sarcasm>

Those rims and tires look enormous! You'd never get them to fit on a 914! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)